World Cup probables’ list pruning on Feb 19
MUMBAI, Feb 11 — The national cricket selectors will meet in Calcutta on February 19, the fourth day of the first match of the tri-nation Asian Test Championship between India and Pakistan, to choose the team for the second match of the series as well as prune down the World Cup probables list to 19.

Steve Waugh may lead Australia
MELBOURNE, Feb 11 — Steve Waugh, the quiet but hard man of Australian cricket, is expected to be named his country's new captain here tomorrow.

Wellington bid to host games withdrawn
SYDNEY, Feb 11 — The New Zealand city of Wellington today withdrew its bid to host the 2006 Commonwealth Games, leaving only Australia’s Melbourne in the running, organisers have said.

East Bengal spank Indian Bank
CALCUTTA, Feb 11 —Title aspirants East Bengal spanked a struggling Indian Bank 3-0 in a group-B match of the third National Football League here today.

Dhawan-Sheetal duo bags doubles title
CHANDIGARH, Feb 11 — Top seeded doubles pair of Shruti Dhawan and Gautam Sheethal justified their seedings when they pocketed the title defeating Radhika Tulpule and Radhika Mandke in the Century ITF Junior Circuit Tennis Tournament at the CLTA courts, Sector 10, on the penultimate day today.

Vandana Agarwal in limelight
NEW DELHI, Feb 11—- Vandana Agarwal was the only player to fire even par score of 72 on the opening day of the two-round Biloo Sethi Golf Challenge Trophy Championship at the Delhi Golf Club course here today.

Nausher, Brojen in hockey team
CHENNAI, Feb 11 — Half back Nausher Singh and forward Brojen Singh are the new faces in the Indian hockey team for the five-Test Pakistan leg of the annual series.

Cricket bookie nabbed
NEW DELHI, Feb 11 — A cricket bookie was arrested by the crime branch from the West Shalimar Bagh area yesterday.

Gold Flake tennis from Feb 22
CHENNAI, Feb 11 — Emulating the ATP world tour, as it were, the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association under the auspices of the All-India Tennis Association will be launching a circuit tour for the benefit of Indian players, christened the "Gold Flake Aces Tour 99", with the sponsorship from the ITC for a total prize money of Rs 2,00,000.

Ashwani denies report
NEW DELHI, Feb 11— Former Vice-President of the International Olympic Committee Ashwani Kumar today dismissed as "absolute rubbish" the report from Lausanne that he was involved in the Salt Lake bidding scandal.

Shukla, Mohanty restrict Pak

KOCHI, Feb 11 (PTI) — Young medium-pacer Laxmi Ratan Shukla (3/35) and India discard Debashish Mohanty (2/32) bowled well in tandem to restrict the strong Pakistan to a modest 247 for nine declared on the opening day of the three-day cricket match against Board President’s XI here today.

On a day when the Board President’s XI bowlers dominated, Pakistan were saved from a disastrous slump by a strokeful 65 by Inzamam-ul Haq and his 63-run fifth wicket stand with Yusuf Youhana. Skipper Moin Khan’s breezy 67 was also helpful in propelling Pakistan to a decent total after they appeared to heading towards disaster at 44 for three.

At draw of stumps Board President’s XI had replied with 35 for no loss in eight overs and 43 minutes before bad light stopped play. Shiv Sunder Das (14) and Gagan Khoda (12) were batting when stumps were drawn.

Earlier, the match got off to a delayed start due to wet spots on the pitch owing to overnight rain. Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat on a pitch that appeared to be batsmen friendly.

But with Shukla and Mohanty striking early blows and young left-arm spinner Murali Kartik (2/69) complimenting them well, the mighty Pakistan line-up was in trouble.

The visitors would have been in total disarray but for the fruitful fifth wicket stand between Inzamam-ul Haq and Youhana (9) that brought some respectability to the total.

Moin Khan came up with a fine knock when his side needed it badly. He was severe on anything pitched short and struck Mohanty and Ananthapadmanabhan for a six each besides eight delectable fours.

Earlier, Pakistan, who were reeling under pressure at 44 for three, were saved by a 50-run third wicket partnership between left-hander Saeed Anwar, who had a lean patch during the recent two-Test series and Wajahtullah Wasti that pulled them out of a precarious position.

Anwar, who looked well settled for a big innings stepped out once to lift left-arm spinner Murali Kartik over long on for a mighty six, but did not last long as he tried to loft Board President’s XI skipper Hrishikesh Kanitkar succeeding only in balooning a simple catch to J.P. Yadav at mid-on for a well struck 40 that came off 60 balls and included three fours and a six.

At the other end, Wasti, who had a reprieve on 25 when he was dropped by Kanitkar off Kartik, failed to take full advantage of the life and departed, after adding three more runs, to the Kanitkar-Kartik combination as Pakistan plunged into crisis at 94 for four.

But Youhana and Inzamam-ul Haq who came together at this stage rescued the visitors with a valuable stand.

Youhanna, who scratched around for 75 minutes in scoring only nine runs before he was neatly taken at silly point by Shiv Suder Das when the batsman tried to cut left-spinner Ananthapadmanabhan, however, had the satisfaction of adding 63 precious runs for the fifth wicket with the hefty Inzamam.

Pakistan XI (1st innings): Naveed c Khoda b Mohanty 6, Afridi c Prasad b Shukla 14, Wasti c Kanitkar b Kartik 28, Saeed Anwar c Yadav b Kanitkar 40, Inzamam-ul-Haq c Khoda b Shukla 65, Y. Youhana c Das b Ananthapadmanabhan 9, Moin Khan c Kaif b Mohanty 67, A. Mahmood c Prasad b Shukla 0, Mushtaq Ahmed st Prasad b Kartik 3, Shoaib Akhtar not out 3. Extra (lb-2, nb-10) 12.

Total (for 9 wkts decl 78.4 overs) 247.

Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-44, 3-94, 5-157, 6-199, 7-204, 8-225, 9-247.

Board President's XI (1st innings): Shiv Sundar Das batting 14, Gagan Khoda batting 12. Extra (lb-3, nb-6) 9.

Total (for 0 wkts in 8 overs) 35.

Bowling: Shoaib Akhtar 3-0-5-0, Azhar Mahmood 3-0-18-0, Mushtaq Ahmed 1-0-2-0, Nadeem Khan 1-0-7-0.

World Cup probables’ list pruning on Feb 19

MUMBAI, Feb 11 (PTI) — The national cricket selectors will meet in Calcutta on February 19, the fourth day of the first match of the tri-nation Asian Test Championship between India and Pakistan, to choose the team for the second match of the series as well as prune down the World Cup probables list to 19.

The second Asian Test Championship tie, between India and Sri Lanka, is scheduled from February 24-28 at Colombo and the World Cup in England is slated to be held from May 14 to June 20.

The selectors have already shortlisted 30 World Cup probables at Calcutta on January 15 to meet the first deadline and the deadline for pruning the list to 19 is February 28.

The final list of 15 team members and four probables would be decided next month and sent to the organisers before the March 31 deadline, according to the executive secretary of the Indian cricket board, Mr Sharad Diwadkar.

The 30-strong probables’ list includes the names of Mumbai's Vinod Kambli and Ajit Agarkar, who are yet to recover fully from injuries sustained last year.

The 30 probables already chosen are: Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, V.V.S. Laxman, Devang Gandhi, S. Ramesh, Gagan Khoda, Rahul Dravid, Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Amay Khurasia, Vinod Kambli, Jacob Martin, Nayan Mongia, Saba Karim, M.S.K. Prasad, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Ajit Agarkar, Debashish Mohanty, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Dodda Ganesh, Robin Singh (sr), Nikhil Chopra, Ggyanendra Pandey, Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble, Sunil Joshi, Rahul Sanghvi, Harbhajan Singh.

Agassi thrown out for cursing

SAN JOSE, California, Feb 11 (Reuters) — After cursing three times in a row, an out-of-control Andre Agassi was thrown out of the $ 350,000 Sybase Open here yesterday during his second-round match against American Cecil Mamiit.

After Agassi won the first set 6-0, the match went into a second-set tiebreaker. With Mamiit ahead 4-0 in the tiebreaker, Agassi got angry at himself after committing an unforced error he cursed himself, and linesman Al Klassen reported him to chair umpire Steve Ulrich, who gave Agassi a verbal warning.

According to ATP supervisor Tom Barnes, Agassi then cursed Klassen. Klassen again reported it to Ulrich, who assessed the second seed with a point penalty.

Agassi should have known he would be thrown out of the match if he swore again, but he did so anyway. Ulrich called ATP tour supervisor Tom Barnes to the court, who defaulted Agassi.

"I don’t make the rules, I just enforce them," said Barnes, who had no discretion to keep Agassi in the tournament.

Agassi denied he swore at Klassen and said he deliberately kept his hand over his mouth to muffle his frustration.

"I’m shocked," Agassi said. "I didn’t swear at him and I can’t believe it happened. I never made eye contact with him and I never said the word ‘you.'"

Agassi said he was upset by the way he was letting the match get out of control.

"It was a bad decision on my part but it was done in the heat of battle," Agassi said.

"By the same token it was a bad decision on the umpire and lineperson’s part. There’s a need to keep things tight out there and I understand that but when there’s not an apparent defacing of the game there’s no reason to end the match that way. I was shocked, I wouldn’t think in a million years how that would transpire."

Agassi coach Brad Gilbert told Reuters: "I certainly don’t agree with what Andre did but there’s no way he should have been thrown out of a match for swearing at himself."

Tournament promoter Barry Mackay said: "I’m upset what happened for the fans, for Andre and for tennis. It’s a real pity."

It was not the first time the sometimes temperamental American has been thrown out of an event. He was defaulted from a tournament in Indianapolis in 1996 for swearing.

Leander-Bhupathi pair in 2nd round

DUBAI, Feb 11 (PTI) — Defending champions Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi quelled a stiff challenge from Argentinians Pablo Albano and Daniel Orsanic 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) to move into the doubles second round of the Dubai Tennis Open last night.

In a cliffhanger which could have gone either way, the experience and temperament of the Indians saw them win the nail-biting tie-breakers.

In the crucial tie-break in the first set Orsanic sent a Bhupathi serve into the net to concede the set to the Indians, world ranked number two and the losing finalists in the 1999 Australian Open doubles.

The second set could have gone to the Argentinians as they had a chance to break Paes and Bhupathi in the 11th game when they led 40-0 on Bhupathi’s serve. But Bhupathi held his serve and saved the point to lead 6-5.

In the second set tiebreak, the Latin American duo drew level at 5-5 after being down 3-5. But once again Bhupathi’s serve proved decisive as Orsanic netted the return.

The Indians face tough opposition from the Australian pair Joshua Eagle and Andrew Florent in the second round. The Australians beat Cyril Suk and Michael Tebbutt 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 in the first round.

Third seeds Don Johnson and Francisco Montana were defeated by Byron Black and Wayne Ferreira 6-2, 6-3 while the fourth seeds Piet Norval and Kevin Ullyett went down to Wayne Black and Sandon Stolle 6-2, 6-2 which may leave the field easier for the Indians in subsequent encounters.

AFP adds: Seeded duo Greg Rusedski and Albert Costa were yesterday bundled out of the second round of the $ 1 million Dubai Open here.

Fourth-seeded Briton Rusedski struggled with his serve, and then his temper, as Spaniard Francisco Clavet rallied for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 triumph, while Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer ousted sixth-seeded Spaniard Costa, the German open champion, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).

Their defeats followed the fall of top-seeded title holder Alex Corretja on Tuesday.

Clavet and Kiefer, who now meet in the quarter-finals, were joined in the last eight by Spanish pair Carlos Moya and Felix Mantilla.

Second-seeded Moya downed Austrian veteran Thomas Muster 6-4, 6-4, while seventh-seeded Mantilla beat Byron Black of Zimbabwe 7-6 (7/1), 6-3.

Rusedski, who has endured a horror start to the year, had good reason to be annoyed by his slump against the soft-hitting Clavet.

The British number two had looked set to be cruising after taking the opening set and leading 3-0 in the second.

The Spaniard kept fighting, however, and Rusedski’s confidence crumbled in the humid middle-east heat.

The tension showed for Rusedski as he threw down his racquet in the fourth game of the final set after giving a break point to the Spaniard.

Rusedski recovered to tie the set at 2-2 but his revival was short-lived and Clavet won the next four games to stroll to victory.

Kierfer’s victory over Costa was a good result for the 21-year-old with a difficult temperament who, for two seasons, has been within sight of the world top 20.

Kiefer’s short fuse showed itself as he began yelling at his Australian coach Bob Brett, who responded by walking out of the arena.

Steve Waugh may lead Australia

MELBOURNE, Feb 11 (AFP) — Steve Waugh, the quiet but hard man of Australian cricket, is expected to be named his country's new captain here tomorrow.

Even his rival Shane Warne is betting on him.

"I just expect Steve to be captain basically, like everybody else does," Warne said when he arrived with the one-day team here today.

The 33-year-old Waugh is favourite before the 29-year-old legspinner to replace Mark Taylor, who retired from international cricket last week.

Waugh, who took over as one-day captain from Taylor, is favoured to win the job after 13 years of Test cricket, although injury worries recently have given Warne a chance.

Waugh has been sidelined for nearly all of the tri-nations series against England and Sri Lanka. In his absence Warne has done a sterling job, leading the side to six straight wins and to within one victory of lifting the trophy.

His attacking fields and extrovert style of leadership have been a revelation but Waugh has long been touted as Taylor's successor.

"I'd like to think I'm a chance. I think I've grabbed my opportunity in the one-dayers and done a pretty good job," Warne said.

East Bengal spank Indian Bank

CALCUTTA, Feb 11 (PTI) —Title aspirants East Bengal spanked a struggling Indian Bank 3-0 in a group-B match of the third National Football League here today.

After a series of early raids, striker Raman Vijayan fired in two goals while medio Bijen Singh struck once for the home team in a rather one-sided contest at the Salt Lake Stadium here.

The local giants, who have already qualified for super six stage, completely dominated the proceedings and could have won by a much bigger margin had their forwards not frittered away a number of scoring opportunities that came their way.

East Bengal shot into the lead in the 30th minute when an unmarked Raman Vijayan brilliantly headed home from inside the box following a measured centre from the right flank by the hard-working Sulleh Mussa.

Vijayan, who was left unguarded inside the box, produced a lovely diving header to beat the Indian Bank custodian much to the delight of the vociferous home crowd.

The home team consolidated their position just one minute before the interval when Bijen Singh found the target after Raman Vijayan had done all the spadework.

The second goal was the result of a fast counter attack which saw Vijayan break through the defence after collecting a gentle lob by Emmanuel Opoku. Vijayan dribbled past a few defenders and passed the ball to Bijen Singh as he saw the Indian Bank goalkeeper charging towards him.

Leading by a comfortable 2-0 margin at the half-time, East Bengal maintained the tempo in the second session also and struck again in the 57th minute with Vijayan scoring another goal following a combined move.

Indian bank, who have been struggling right through the high-profile league, were at the receiving end for most part of the contest as their defenders found it difficult to counter their much superior opponents.

The home team saw an easy chance go abegging in the ninth minute of the second half when Vijayan, fed by a gentle pass from Baichung Bhutia, directed his volley straight to the goalkeeper with none of the defenders in position.

With this comfortable victory, East Bengal consolidated their position further as group-B leaders, having secured 23 points from nine outings. The team has not lost a single match yet.

Indian Bank, who are out of contention, have managed just seven points from nine matches.

Tollygunge down Dempo

MARGAO: Dempo goalkeeper Vikrant Sharma’s error helped Tollygunge down the Goan outfit 1-0 in a group "A" match and keep themselves in the reckoning for the super six of the third edition of the National Football League here today.

Chibuzor once again did the trick when he scored off a lob from Bastab Roy from the right.

Dempo, after dominating the second half, missed half a dozen chances to score. They wasted a penalty early in the first half.

Tollygunge went into the lead in the 5th minute off a keeper Vikrant’s folly. Bastab Roy from the right sent a lob into the box for Chibuzor who headed into the goal. Keeper Vikrant failed to clear the ball cleanly. The ball deflected off his hand and went in.

With this win, their third, Tollygunge took their tally to 13 points from nine matches. They will play their last match against JCT at Calcutta on February 14. The other teams who are in the fray for a berth in the super six are JCT (16), Churchill (14) and Mohun Bagan (14).

Dempo with this loss, their fourth, are out of reckoning as they remained on nine points from as many matches. They play their last match against defending champions Mohun Bagan here on February 14.

Dhawan-Sheetal duo bags doubles title
By Our Sports Reporter

CHANDIGARH, Feb 11 — Top seeded doubles pair of Shruti Dhawan and Gautam Sheethal justified their seedings when they pocketed the title defeating Radhika Tulpule and Radhika Mandke in the Century ITF Junior Circuit Tennis Tournament at the CLTA courts, Sector 10, on the penultimate day today. Shruti and Gautam Sheethal won at 5-7, 6-1, 6-0.

In the singles, in both boys and girls, it will be an India-Pakistan affair as in boys unseeded Noni Qamar today silenced sixth seed Punna Vishal of India in two straight games at 6-4, 6-4. Qamar will now meet top seed Kedar Tembe of India who had a tough tie against unseeded Kedar Shah in three crucial sets at 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

The Pakistan national champion had hot favourite Nida Wasim upset top seed Gautam Sheethal of India in three sets at 1-6, 7-5, 6-2. Second seed Shruti Dhawan of India braved the tie with third seed Radhika Tulpule before the former went down fighting at 6-7 (2), 6-7 (4). The latter will clash with Nida in the tomorrow's final.

The longest match in the boys, singles semifinal was played between Kadar Shah and Kedar Tembe of India which lasted 125 minutes. The decider witnessed long rallies and till 3-2. Shah held sway. Tembe finished the set in 40 minutes at 6-3.

The second semi-final in the boys section between Nomi Qamar of Pakistan and Punna Vishal was over in 72 minutes in two straight sets which Qamar won at 6-4, 6-4.

The girls semifinals between Dhaita Academy trainee and second seed Shruti Dhawan was a cliff hanger and the unlucky Shruti lost the tie at 6-7 (2), 6-7 (4) in the tie breaker.

The Nida-Sheethal encounter lasted 110 minutes. Nida made a heroic comeback after losing the first set at 1-6, and trailing by 1-4 in the second. She finished the set at 7-5 thus equalising at 1-1. Now was the moment for this confident Nida of Pakistan to exhibit her class and this set was crucial for her. Nida contributed wrapped up the set and the match at 6-2. Nida will now take on Radhika Tulpule in the girls' singles final to be played tomorrow.

Vandana Agarwal in limelight
From Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, Feb 11 - Vandana Agarwal was the only player to fire even par score of 72 on the opening day of the two-round Biloo Sethi Golf Challenge Trophy Championship at the Delhi Golf Club course here today.

Shruti Khanna and Urvashi S Sodhi were tied three strokes behind the leader at three over 75, while defending national champion Parnita Garewal, Noting Lal Crush and Anglia Chopra were clubbed together at four over 76.

The score on the first day was expectedly far below participants’ potential as they were compelled to carry their own heavy kit bags following caddies uncalled for lightning strike.

The participants, some of them foreigners, heaved a sigh of relief when they came to know that the strike had been called off following settlement for higher wages to caddies for the competition in progress.

Vandana did not play her first nine holes well as she had two bogies on the 3rd and the 8th. But she got into her form as she got three birdies on the 12th, the 13th and the 16th. She however, had a bogey on the 17th to get two under 34 in back nine. Her score of 72 saw her occupy the driver’s seat.

Shruti was totally off colour in her first nine. She could fire six over 42. She had a triple bogey on the 5th and a double bogey on the 7th. She also had a bogey on the first and the 3rd. She had only one birdie on the 8th.

A totally transformed player in her back nine, Shruti fired three under 33 with three birdies on the 13th, the 14th and the 18th.

Urvashi was out in 39, three over, but attained the score of par 36 in back nine to get an overall score of three over 75.

Parnita, Nonita and Anjali were indifferent in their strokes one minute and brilliant occasionally. They managed a score of four over 76.

Tessa Covell (Zimbabwe) failed to dazzle as she could fire seven over 79. She was out in six over 42 and was in one over 37.

In the 19-36 handicap category, Rohini Majithia was the leader with the score of 90 followed by Sonali Chaudhri and Suman Sikand, who were tied one stroke behind the leader at 91.

The course rolled out smooth and weather was ideal for good display. The participants were sporting enough not to offer any excuse. "We will, hopefully, get going tomorrow", said leading golfers. Similar optimism was expressed by other players.

Nausher, Brojen in hockey team

CHENNAI, Feb 11 (PTI) — Half back Nausher Singh and forward Brojen Singh are the new faces in the Indian hockey team for the five-Test Pakistan leg of the annual series.

Announcing the 18-member team, Indian Hockey Federation secretary K Jothikumaran told PTI that out of the squad that did duty in the four-Test Indian leg, four players, Ramandeep Singh, L Prabhakaran, Daljit Dhillon and Samir Dad, had been left out as they were nursing injuries.

Both Nausher and Brojen were members of the Indian team that participated in the recent five-nation international hockey tournament at Cairo.

The decision was taken after getting clearance from IHF president KPS Gill who witnessed the final between India and Egypt on February 9. "The IHF president, who returned to Delhi today, gave me and coach Baskaran the clearance to decide on the team," said Mr Jothikumaran.

Pakistan lead the nine-Test two leg series 3-1.

The team: Jagdish Ponnappa (IA), BC Poonacha, Dilip Tirkey, Lazarus Barla (both IA), Anil Aldrin (captain-AI), Baljit Saini (PSB), Mohd Riaz (IA), Thirumalvalavan (TN), Shanmugam (Kar), Nausher Singh (PSB) SS Gill, Ravinder Singh (IA) Gagan Ajit Singh, Rajesh Chauhan (both AI), Baljit Singh Dhillong (Pun Pol), Kamal Horo (Ser), Brojen Singh (IA) and Gurusewak Singh.

The itinerary for the Pakistan leg:

Lahore (February 16 and 24), Karachi (February 18) Peshawar (February 20) and Rawalpindi (February 22).

Cricket bookie nabbed
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Feb 11 — A cricket bookie was arrested by the crime branch from the West Shalimar Bagh area yesterday.

Harmindar Singh, alias Rimpy Bhalla, alias Jolly had started this work a couple of months back. He operated from his Shalimar Bagh residence. Harmindar struck most of the deals over the telephone and maintained records of the cash transactions.

Promising a "double-or-nothing scheme", Harminder would deal with known clients and would keep the losing bet.

Acting on a tip-off, the police team laid a trap sending a decoy client to Harmindar. The ‘client’ was to make a bet of over Rs 4,000 for the India vs Australia cricket match. During the transaction, the police team raided Harminder Singh’s residence and arrested him red-handed. Harminder Singh’s calculator, phone apparatus and colour TV has been seized.

Gold Flake tennis from Feb 22

CHENNAI, Feb 11 (UNI) — Emulating the ATP world tour, as it were, the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) under the auspices of the All-India Tennis Association (AITA) will be launching a circuit tour for the benefit of Indian players, christened the "Gold Flake Aces Tour 99", with the sponsorship from the ITC for a total prize money of Rs 2,00,000.

Announcing this here at a Press conference, TNTA secretary Premkumar Karra said this unique competition for men, for the first time in AITA calendar, would commence with three legs this year, the first at Madurai on clay surface from February 22 to 27, the second at Chennai from March 1 to 6 and the third at Coimbatore from March 8 to 13 on synthetic surface.

He said while top notchers like Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi would not be able to compete on this new circuit, former Davis Cupper Gaurav Natekar would be heading the field this year along with emerging talents like Manoj Mahadevan, Vijay Kannan, Vinod Sridhar and the Kirtane cousins from Pune.

He said the competition in singles and doubles, had been thrown open to foreign players also.

Ashwani denies report

NEW DELHI, Feb 11 (UNI) — Former Vice-President of the International Olympic Committee Ashwani Kumar today dismissed as "absolute rubbish" the report from Lausanne that he was involved in the Salt Lake bidding scandal.

"This is the biggest lie I have ever heard", Mr Kumar, who is one of the senior members of the IOC said here.

"I believe in Olympic charter and spirit and to allege that I have been implicate in bidding scandal is nothing but a blasphemy", Mr Kumar asserted.

As per the agency reports from IOC headquarters at Lausanne, Mr Ashwani Kumar is among the 10 IOC members who have been newly implicated.

"I have already explained my position, I have never accepted any favours and I don’t know how these new allegations have been levelled" a visibly anguished Ashwani Kumar said.

"If I was not involved in any such scandals when the bigger event like summer Olympics is concerned why should I be a party to such things for Winter Olympics" Mr Kumar asked.

Wellington bid to host games withdrawn

SYDNEY, Feb 11 (AFP) — The New Zealand city of Wellington today withdrew its bid to host the 2006 Commonwealth Games, leaving only Australia’s Melbourne in the running, organisers have said.

Wellington officials and Regional Mayors met early today and accepted a proposal from bid chief Kerry Prendergast to pull out of the race.

"I have had to recommend to the meeting that Wellington does not complete its bid for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. The recommendation was unanimously agreed to by the Mayors," Prendergast told reporters.

"Quite simply it boils down to an unacceptable financial risk for the region, huge difficulties preparing the technical bid and a significant funding gap," she said.

"While we remain firm in our belief that Wellington had a winnable bid, the simple fact is that signing the bid document would expose us to undue risk."

Wellington Mayor Mark Blumsky said officials had agreed to pull out after finding they needed about another $ 116,800 (US) to complete the bid by October.

Dingko floats fund for poor pugilists
From Ravi Dhaliwal

PATIALA, Feb 11 — In a rare gesture, ace boxer N.G. Dingko Singh, winner of a gold medal in the 13th Asian Games at Bangkok, has floated a fund — 'Dingko sports fund' — which will be utilised for the promotion of boxing among poor Manipuri boys.

Dingko Singh's coach, L. Ibomcha Singh, who is here as in charge of the Indian junior boxing camp which is currently in progress at the NIS, said today the fund would be managed by a trust. The trustees include the boxer himself, L. Ibomcha Singh, a Manipuri vernacular journalist, Sarat Chand Thiam, and renowned Manipuri folk singer Naba Sharma.

It was L. Ibomcha Singh who picked four-year-old Dingko from an Imphal orphanage and since then the boxer has been staying at the residence of his coach in Imphal, even spurning an offer from Manipur Chief Minister W. Nipamacha Singh to live in a flat adjoining the Chief Minister's official residence.

The corpus of the fund has been formed by the numerous cash prizes the 21-year-old pugilist won in the aftermath of his historic triumph in the bantamweight category in the Bangkok Asiad. However, L. Ibomcha Singh was sore over the fact that the promises of several organisations to give cash prizes to Dingko are yet to materialise.

Ibomcha Singh also disclosed that the Manipur Government had named the road leading to the main stadium in Imphal, which is going to host the fifth National Games, as "Dingko Road."

Women’s handball nationals at Ropar

LUDHIANA, Feb 11 (FOSR) — As many as 25 teams are expected to take part in the 27th Senior National Handball Championship for women scheduled to be held at Ropar from March 8 to 13, president, Punjab Handball Association, S.S. Channy has said.

This edition of the championship will be dedicated to the tercentenary of the Khalsa Panth and to Women's International Day which falls on March 8. An organising committee under the chairmanship of Mr Kulbir Singh Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner, Ropar, and Mr J.S. Samundri, district president, Handball Association as organising secretary of this championship has been formed. Teams will be divided into four groups and two top teams from each group will qualify for the knockout stage.

RPF volleyball

JALANDHAR, Feb 11 (FOSR)— The second RPF Inter-Post Volleyball Tournament will be organised at RPF lines here from February 23 to 25, according to Mr A.K. Sinha Assistant Security Commissioner, RPF, Jalandhar.

Seven top teams of the RPF will be seen in action during the three day tournament.